What's Happening in Space Policy May 9-13, 2016

Here is our list of space policy related events for the week of May 9-13, 2016.  The House and Senate are in session this week.

During the Week

It’s another busy week for space policy aficionados — especially Tuesday.  So many excellent events on top of each other, one either needs a large staff (alas, we don’t) or a clone (none of those either).  Three of the events that day certainly or probably will deal with launch vehicles.  First is CSIS’s event on State of Defense Acquisition where Frank Kendall may have something to say about RD-180 rocket engines and public private partnerships to build a U.S. replacement. Then Orbital ATK’s Dave Thompson will speak at WSBR and questions about Antares might well arise.  At the same time, the Space Transportation Association is hosting a lunch roundtable discussion to provide an update on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft with the NASA program managers for those programs and their associated Ground Systems Development and Operations (GSDO) program.

For those less interested in rockets, during that same time NASA will have a telecon announcing new discoveries from its exoplanet-hunting Kepler Space Telescope, and the Secure World Foundation (SWF) is holding a seminar on challenges and opportunities for new space actors.  SWF’s speaker lineup includes representatives of both familiar (PlanetLabs) and less familiar (Observer Research Foundation and Astroscale) organizations.   Observer Research Foundation is a think tank in India; Astroscale is a Singapore-based startup developing satellites to remove space debris.  SWF usually records its seminars and posts the audio on its website soon thereafter.

That’s just Tuesday.  Meanwhile, up on Capitol Hill, all this week the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) will mark up the FY2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).  Unlike HASC (which marked up its version already), most of the SASC subcommittee markups are closed, as is full committee markup, so there will be no public information about the debates that go on to produce the final result.   Across the Hill, the Defense Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee will mark up the FY2017 DOD appropriations bill late Wednesday afternoon.  It is open. Many of the committee’s markups are webcast, although there is no indication whether this one will be or not. [UPDATE: Although the committee’s website does not indicate that the markup is closed, the official notice of the meeting does, so apparently it is closed after all.)

The Heritage Foundation is having what sounds like an interesting discussion on Wednesday about the national security implications of rapid access to space.  It’s only for one hour, which seems a short amount time to pack in all the interesting speakers they have, including Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK), Eric Stallmer from the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, Everett Dolman from the Air University, and Dean Cheng, Heritage’s in-house expert on the Chinese space program.  It will be webcast.

And just for fun, JPL’s Bob Pappalardo will speak at a public lecture on the Europa mission at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) on Thursday evening.  He is the Europa mission project scientist and was deeply involved in reformulating the original proposal into the more affordable version often referred to as Europa Clipper.  The lecture is part of a series offered by NASM for ages 11 and up and will be webcast.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday morning are listed below.  Check back throughout the week for additional events announced later and added to our Events of Interest list.

Monday-Friday, May 9-13

• SASC Subcommittee and Full Committee Markup FY2017 National Defense Authorization Act, various times and places, most sessions are closed
• Living Planet 2016 (European Space Agency), Prague, Czech Republic (some sessions will be webcast)

Tuesday, May 10

• State of Defense Acquisition (CSIS), 1616 Rhode Island Ave., NW, Washington, DC, 10:00-11:30 am ET (no indication if it will webcast; some CSIS events are–check the CSIS website)
• WSBR Luncheon Featuring Orbital ATK’s Dave Thompson, University Club, Washington, DC, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm ET
• SLS/Orion Roundtable Discussion (Space Transportation Association), 2325 Rayburn, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm (invitation only)
• Challenges and Opportunities for New Space Actors (Secure World Foundation), 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC, 12:00-2:00 pm ET (RSVP was required by May 3)
• NASA Media Telecon re New Kepler Discoveries, virtual, 1:00 pm ET (audio webcast)

Wednesday, May 11

• SpaceX CRS-8 (SpX-8) Dragon Returns to Earth, release from ISS 9:18 am ET (NASA TV coverage begins at 9:00 am ET); splashdown in Pacific Ocean, 2:55 pm ET (no NASA TV coverage)
• National Security Implications of Rapid Access to Space (Heritage Foundation), 214 Massachusetts Ave, NE, Washington, DC, 9:00-10:00 am ET (webcast)
• House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee Markup FY2017 DOD Approps Bill, H-140 Capitol, 5:30 pm ET (no indication if it will be webcast, many House Appropriations hearings and markups are–check the committee’s website)

Thursday, May 12

• NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, 11:30 am – 12:45 pm ET (10:30 – 11:45 am Central Time), telecon available
• Public Lecture on NASA’s Mission to Europa Featuring JPL’s Bob Pappalardo (NASM), National Air & Space Museum, 600 INdependence Ave, SW, Washington, DC, 8:00 pm ET (webcast)